SEATTLE, April 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The 2026 Seattle ORBIE Awards honored leading chief information officers (CIOs) and chief information security officers (CISOs) from Weyerhaeuser Company, MultiCare Health System & Overlake Medical Center & Clinics, BECU, Starbucks Coffee Company, Premera Blue Cross, Remitly, PCC Community Markets, Gesa Credit Union, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (fmr), and PACCAR (ret), for their exceptional leadership. Hosted by SeattleCIO and PacificNorthwestCISO, chapters of the Inspire Leadership Network, the prestigious awards honor CIOs and CISOs who drive business transformation and industry impact.
Held at The Westin Seattle, the ceremony brought together top executives and industry leaders to honor excellence in technology and security leadership across nine award categories.
“Behind every successful technology and security strategy is a CIO or CISO leading the vision,” said Laurent Rotival, SeattleCIO Chair. “The ORBIE® Awards is the ultimate recognition program for the leaders behind the work.”
“The ORBIE Awards recognize CIOs and CISOs who drive meaningful impact through leadership excellence. Finalists and winners highlight the business value of technology and security initiatives transforming Pacific Northwest’s economy,” said Chuck Markarian, PacificNorthwestCISO Chair.
Meet the 2026 Seattle ORBIE Award Winners:
Sue Taylor, CIO (fmr), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, received the CIO Leadership ORBIE.
Chuck Markarian, CISO (ret), PACCAR, received the CISO Leadership ORBIE.
Rebecca Straka, CIO, Weyerhaeuser Company, received the Global ORBIE for organizations over $2 billion annual revenue and multi-national operations.
Scott Waters, CIO, MultiCare Health System & Overlake Medical Center & Clinics, received the Large Enterprise ORBIE for organizations over $3 billion annual revenue.
Nathan Ramachandran, EVP & CTO, BECU, received the Enterprise ORBIE for organizations over $800 million annual revenue.
Julie Ellis, SVP & CISO, Starbucks Coffee Company, received the CISO Global ORBIE for organizations over $30 billion annual revenue & multi-national operations.
Dr. Adrian Mayers, VP & CISO, Premera Blue Cross, received the CISO Large Enterprise ORBIE for organizations over $3 billion annual revenue.
Darren Challey, CISO, Remitly, received the CISO Enterprise ORBIE for organizations up to $3 billion annual revenue.
Michele Mallory, VP of IT and Business Planning, PCC Community Markets, received the Large Corporate ORBIE for organizations over $400 million annual revenue.
Andrew Chung, CIO, Gesa Credit Union, received the Corporate ORBIE for organizations up to $400 million annual revenue.
About the ORBIE:
The ORBIE is the preeminent executive recognition for C-suite leaders. Since 1998, the ORBIE Awards have recognized leadership excellence, building relationships between executives and trusted business partners, and inspiring the next generation of executives. Finalists and winners are selected through an independent peer-adjudicated process led by prior ORBIE recipients based on the following criteria:
- Leadership and management effectiveness
- Business value created by technology innovation
- Business protection created by enterprise security
- Engagement in industry and community endeavors
Seattle ORBIE Keynote & Attendance:
The keynote address for the Seattle ORBIE Awards was delivered by Sue Taylor, CIO (fmr), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Chuck Markarian, CISO (ret), PACCAR, who were interviewed by Bret Arsenault, Corporate Vice President and Chief Cybersecurity Officer, Microsoft. Over 450 guests attended, representing leading Seattle and Pacific Northwest organizations and their technology partners.
The following partners made the 2026 Seattle ORBIE Awards possible:
- Underwriters: Comcast Business, Google Cloud, Lumen, Okta, Rimini Street, Slalom, & TEKsystems
- Gold Partners: Anomali, Comcast Business, D8TAOPS, ClientOne, Milestone Technologies, & Veeam Software
- Silver Partners: Armis, Cloudflare, Datadog, Digicert, Nutanix, Optiv, Palo Alto Networks, Sentinel One, Tata Consultancy Services, Wiz, & World Wide Technology
- Bronze Partners: All In Technology, Avanade, Between Pixels, BeyondTrust, CGI, CitiusTech, CrowdStrike, Globant, Check Point Exposure Management, Material Security, RGP, SAP, Salesforce, & Yash Technologies
- Media Partner: Puget Sound Business Journal
- Nonprofit Partner: Year Up United
To learn more about partnership opportunities and how to connect with leading C-suite executives across North America, click here. (edit UTM)
About SeattleCIO and PacificNorthwestCISO:
SeattleCIO and PacificNorthwestCISO are the preeminent peer leadership networks of C-suite technology and security leaders in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. As two of over 50 chapters of the Inspire Leadership Network, SeattleCIO and PacificNorthwestCISO belong to a national membership organization exclusively comprised of C-suite leaders from public and private businesses, government, education, healthcare, and nonprofit institutions.
SeattleCIO and PacificNorthwestCISO are led by a CIO and CISO Advisory Board, with support from an executive director and staff. Underwriter executives support the chapter and ensure the programs remain non-commercial and exclusive to qualified CIOs, CISOs, and members.
About Inspire Leadership Network:
Inspire Leadership Network is the preeminent peer leadership network of C-suite executives. With over 2,000 members across more over 50 local chapters, Inspire members serve public and private businesses, government, education, healthcare, and non-profit institutions. Inspire exists to help leaders thrive in today’s most challenging executive roles.
Media Contact
Nicole Lammes
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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0c3cb354-4da3-43f5-841d-c1291f87175e
